Professional truck driver Mike Simons holds the Lunch
Crock, to show how small this crock pot is.

It easily fits down in the bag that contains his other
trucker gear, which he takes with him to his local trucking job.

This close-up photo shows the appliance in its box
with its price label in place.

Mike bought this unit for $14.99 at our local Ollie's
store, which is less expensive than it was at the time on Amazon.com.

The separated parts of this appliance include (shown
clockwise): the heating unit, a metal bowl, a plastic lid with built-in
tab for lifting, and a cover. (Note: These parts may be
described differently by the manufacturer.)

The heating unit has been designed such that the
electrical cord can be wrapped around the bottom and attached for easy
storage. (Shown here, the electrical cord is loose.)

The pink cover easily twists on and off the heating unit.

This appliance runs on 120 volt AC power and uses only
50 watts of power for heating.

For his first meal heated in this unit, Mike chose to
fill the bowl with bread dressing (in the bottom), frozen broccoli and
turkey. He added a dab of water to keep everything from drying out.

The bowl has a capacity of about 2.5 cups or 20 ounces.

Having placed the appliance on the floor of his truck,
Mike plugged the unit into a 12-volt inverter,
which he inserted into the cigarette lighter outlet on his truck's dash
in order to heat the food.

Notice the green light on the inverter and the orange
light on the appliance, which indicate that both are working.

This being the first meal that Mike heated in this unit,
he did not think about "burping" the lid before heating.

During the heating cycle, steam popped the lid open.
Even though the lid had popped open, he never smelled the food cooking
because the cover stayed in place.

Before heating subsequent meals, Mike always burped the
lid and re-covered the appliance. The lid has stayed
firmly in place.

Mike had no set time for heating his food.
But given that the unit uses only 50 watts of power, he
plugged it in at a time that he thought would allow the food to heat
through.

Once the lid was removed, he could see wisps of steam
coming off the food.

Even though the instructions that come with the Lunch
Crock clearly state that this isn't a cooking unit
but rather a heating unit, the frozen broccoli that
Mike had put in this lunch was overcooked.

Mike reported that everything in the bowl was hot, down
to the bread dressing in the bottom.

Conclusion

Mike Simons has used the Lunch Crock numerous times
while trucking. It has always done a good job of heating his lunch. It
is perfect for using up leftovers (such as turkey and bread dressing
from our Thanksgiving meal).

Pasta-based meals and meals with rice all heat up well
in this appliance.

The appliance is very easy to separate and put back
together again. The bowl, lid and cover are very easy to clean.